Greenpeace patrol shadows supertrawler through UK protected area to deter it from fishing

A Greenpeace Operation Ocean Witness patrol boat has shadowed the supertrawler Willem van der Zwan through the Offshore Overfalls Marine Protected Area (MPA) off the Sussex coast. The patrol ensured the supertrawler did not stop to fish, and displayed a banner reading “This is a marine protected area”.

Photo and video is available here.

The Willem van der Zwan at 142.5m in length is one of the largest fishing vessels on earth, and has consistently fished in UK protected areas. In 2019, it spent 437 hours fishing in UK MPAs, 28 hours of which was spent fishing in the Offshore Overfalls protected area.

Supertrawlers are pelagic factory trawlers over 100m in length. None of the supertrawlers seen fishing in the UK’s protected areas are UK owned. They can catch hundreds of tonnes of fish each day, and can stay at sea for long periods of time because of on board freezer processing facilities. The intensity with which supertrawlers fish will impact the wider marine ecosystem, even though supertrawlers do not damage the seabed.

Fiona Nicholls, a Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner, said:
“Supertrawlers like the Willem van der Zwan spend thousands of hours each year fishing inside our protected areas at sea. They endanger the health of our oceans, remove unimaginably vast quantities of fish from the ecosystem, and destroy the livelihoods of local fishers all around the UK.

“The Willem has absolutely no place fishing in the UK’s protected areas. Despite our patrol boat being a fraction of the size of this giant supertrawler, we are resolute about protecting these waters. Our government needs to deliver on its Brexit commitment to level up ocean protection, and ban supertrawlers from all UK protected areas. This would make Britain a world leader in marine protection, but if our government refuses to turn its rhetoric into action, we will continue to do all we can to protect our oceans.”

Supertrawler operations in the UK’s protected areas rose significantly every year between 2017 and 2019. In 2017, supertrawlers spent just 475 hours fishing in UK protected areas. In 2019, supertrawlers spent 2963 hours fishing in UK protected areas.

Polling for Greenpeace by YouGov has found that 4 out of 5 UK adults want supertrawlers banned from UK protected areas. In 2020, over 80 MPs from every political party wrote to the Environment Secretary, George Eustice, calling on him to ban supertrawlers from protected areas [4].

The prime minister hinted at a supertrawler ban in January, as part of his commitment to level up the UK’s seas after Brexit. Speaking to Andrew Marr, Boris Johnson said that after Brexit the UK “will be able to ban these huge hoover trawlers” [5]. This has not happened.

Greenpeace is calling on the UK government to ban supertrawlers and bottom trawlers from all UK protected areas as a matter of urgency. This would level up ocean protection, revive our struggling coastal communities and make the UK a world leader in marine protection.